TIBETAN SCHOLASTIC EDUCATIONsiitra (smdo 'i sbas don mngon rtogs kyi rim pa). The Ornament summarizes its
own content in this way:
The perfection of wisdom (prajiiii-piiramitii) has been proclaimed by
way of eight themes: 1) the wisdom knowing all modes, 2) the wisdom
knowing the paths, 3) the wisdom knowing all [phenomena], 4) the full
practice of all aspects, 5) the culminating stages of practice, 6) the
gradual practice, 7) the instantaneous practice, 8) the dharma-body.^49Each of the eight chapters of the Ornament addresses one of the eight themes
(dngos po, padiirtha). There is no point here in analyzing these eight themes.
Suffice it to say that the Ornament describes the structure of the Mahayana path
through the four practices (sbyor ba bzhi, catviirab prayogiib) or realizations
(mngon rtogs, abhisamaya). These four realizations (chapters 4-7) take as their
objects the first three themes (chapters 1-3), the three wisdoms of the Buddha.
The result of this fourfold practice is the dharma-body of the Buddha and his
special attainments (chapter 8).
I suggested earlier that the importance of the path in Buddhist tradition
reflects a pragmatic orientation on the part of the tradition, which understands
what would be called in English religion more as a matter of practice than of
creed. It is tempting to infer from this that since it teaches the Mahayana path,
the Ornament must bear a direct relation with actual Mahayana meditative prac-
tices. It is also tempting to infer the since this text explains the Mahayana path,
those who study it intensively, as Tibetan scholars do, must be interested in this
text for practical reasons. These assumptions are, however, unjustified. Although
practice is central to Buddhist traditions and the Ornament relates to this prag-
matic emphasis, it is incorrect to assume that teachings on the path necessarily
reflect an experiential standpoint. In order to understand a text we cannot look
just at its content and deduce from this its application; rather, we must consider
the ways in which such a text is used by the textual communities in which it is
embedded.
In discussing the ways this text is used by Tibetan traditions, we may want to
keep in mind the fact that the Ornament is used differently by the two main
Tibetan scholastic traditions characterized above. In the non-dGe lugs commen-
tarial institutions, the Ornament is studied for its content, the eight themes,
which are explained through seventy topics (don, artha). In this way, students
learn about the four realizations, the bodies (sku, kaya) of the Buddha as well as
a number of elements of the Mahayana path such as the mind of enlightenment
(byang chub kyi sems, bodhicitta). Non-dGe lugs traditions do not focus exclus-
ively on the Ornament, but complete this study of the path by examining the
other texts attributed to Maitreya as well as Asanga's and Vasubandhu's Abhid-
harma texts.
dGe lugs monastic universities proceed differently. They take the Ornament
as the central text for the study of the path, treating it as a kind of Buddhist